THE MARCH OF THE EL-SAYED DEMOCRATS / THE WALL STREET EDITORIAL

The March of the El-Sayed Democrats

His victory in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary sets up the race of the year in November.

By The Editorial Board

U.S. Senate Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed waves on stage during an election night rally in Michigan. Rebecca Cook/Reuters

Abdul El-Sayed’s victory in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary on Tuesday is no surprise in this year of rising radicalism in the party. 

But maybe hold off on French Revolution 2.0. 

Democratic voters made the race far closer than pollsters predicted, and now Mr. El-Sayed will have to persuade voters beyond Ann Arbor and the white liberal gentry.

Mr. El-Sayed, an articulate 41-year-old public-health official, was expected to roll over Rep. Haley Stevens. 

But his lead was 1% on Wednesday when the race was called. 

The narrow victory suggests many Democrats had second thoughts about nominating a man with radical views hailed by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as the next great progressive hope.

Progressive is an understatement. 

Mr. El-Sayed now says he’s a “capitalist,” distancing himself from the Democratic Socialists of America, but his agenda remains the full Bernie Sanders. 

He continues to support Medicare for All. 

He favors a wealth tax and an enormous expansion in federal entitlements for child care and more. 

He wants to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying the agency “is about normalizing paramilitary force on our streets.”

He has a particular animus toward Israel and has campaigned with Hasan Piker, the Mao Zedong fanboy and Soviet Union admirer who has said the U.S. “deserved 9/11.” 

Mr. El-Sayed wants to cut off all U.S. military aid to Israel, which he accuses of genocide in Gaza.

When Israel killed Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a bombing run this year, Mr. El-Sayed was taped saying that he’d stay silent because “I also want to remind you guys that there are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad today.” 

Dearborn is the center of anti-Israel, Hamas-sympathizing Democratic sentiment in the state.

AIPAC, the U.S. pro-Israel lobbying group, spent heavily for Ms. Stevens. 

But it’s a sign of the sharp turn against Israel among Democratic voters that so many found none of his views or associations disqualifying. 

Another message is that Democratic primary voters want candidates who share their anger no matter their policy views.

But winning a primary isn’t the same as winning the general election in a swing state like Michigan. 

Mr. El-Sayed will face Mike Rogers, a one-time FBI agent and former head of the House Intelligence Committee. 

Mr. Rogers is a strong candidate who lost to Democrat Elissa Slotkin two years ago by fewer than 20,000 votes out of more than 5.4 million cast. 

He has shown he can unite the moderate suburban and MAGA wings of the state GOP.

Mr. El-Sayed is counting on anti-Donald Trump fury to unite Democrats despite his radical views. 

Look for the Democratic establishment, including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, to rally behind him despite their support for Ms. Stevens. 

Ben Rhodes, Dan Pfeiffer and the rest of the Barack Obama apparat are already lined up for him.

The stakes here are higher than a single Senate race. 

Nominating a leftist could cost the party a Senate majority that is very much in reach. 

If Mr. Rogers wins, one lesson will be that Mr. El-Sayed was too far left to win in a swing state even in what is likely to be an excellent Democratic year. 

Democrats might rethink this year’s headlong rush left as they consider the 2028 presidential race.

But if Mr. El-Sayed wins, he will immediately become a media favorite bent on colonizing the Democratic Party from the socialist left. 

He has said one of his first tasks will be trying to defeat John Fetterman, the pro-Israel Pennsylvania Democrat who is up for re-election in 2028. 

“Put one ogre on a pike and then everyone else gets the message,” he told a donor, according to leaked audio.

Heads on pikes? 

What, no guillotine? 

Michigan voters have to decide how polarizing and left-wing they want American politics to become.